The polyolefin having a functional group at its terminal is advantageously used as, for example, a compatibilizer for a polymer blend, a paint coating property improver or a starting material in molecular designing. The conversion of a terminal group of the polyolefin to a functional group enables improving coating and adherence properties of the polyolefin.
For producing the above polyolefin having a functional group at its terminal, for example, a process using the living polymerization is described in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 63(1988)-113003. In this process, the polymerization step must be conducted at such low temperatures that the productivity is poor and high cost is inevitable in industrial mass production.
Moreover, Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2(1990)-218705 describes a process for producing a polyolefin having a functional group at its terminal being represented by the formula P-X wherein P is a polymer chain and X is a functional group, which process comprises step (a) preparing a terminal-modified polyolefin of the formula P-ZnRR' wherein P is as defined above and R and R' are hydrocarbon groups and step substituting the --ZnRR' with a functional group. However, the step (a) must be conducted at low temperatures, for example, about 15 to 25.degree. C., so that it is presumed that the productivity would be poor and high cost would be inevitable in industrial mass production.
The present invention has been made taking the above prior art into account, and the object of the present invention is to provide a process in which a polyolefin having a functional group at its terminal can be obtained with industrial advantages.